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The cross arced through the air and speared the fleeing Elder in her sloping spine She fell forward and convulsed, impaled by the replica of an ancient instrument of execution

The courtyard fell quiet Instinctively, everyone turned to look at Luce

"She’s okay!" Dee called, raising Luce’s hand in the air as if the two of them had just won a relay race

"Daniel!" Luce pointed at a flash of white disappearing behind Daniel’s back, into the church As the double doors slowly shut, an elderlythe staircase inside

"Follow hiled corpse

Luce and Dee ran to catch up to the others When they entered the church, it was dark and silent Roland pointed toward a flight of stone steps in the corner They opened into a ser staircase The space was too cras, so they picked their way up the steep steps as quickly as they could

"The Elder will lead us to Sophia," Daniel whispered as they ducked under the stone archway to the darkened staircase "If she has the others--if she has the relic--" Dee laid a firm hand on Daniel’s arm "She must not know of Luce’s presence YouSophia"

Daniel’s eyes flickered back at Luce, then up to Roland, who nodded swiftly, rocketing up the stairs as if he had run through old stone fortresses before

Barely twofor them at the top of the cramped staircase The Elder lay dead on the floor, lips blue, eyes glassy and wet Behind Roland, an open doorway curved sharply to the left So what sounded like a hymn

Luce shivered

Daniel e of the curved stairway Froainst a stone wall, Luce could see a s The walls were painted with elaborate frescos, lit by dozens of small tin la There was a s the entire western wall Beyond this was a row of highly decorated vaulted coluer chapel that was hard to see froilded shrine to Mary was covered in flower bouquets and half-burned sacramental candles

Daniel cocked his head A flash of red swished past one of the colu scarlet robe

She was bending over an altar reatlay on that altar, but Luce could not tell what it was

The woray hair cut in a fashionable bob Her robe was cinched at the waist with a colorful woven belt She lit a candle at the front of the altar The flowing sleeves of her robe slipped up her ar wrists adorned with stacks and stacks of pearl bracelets

Miss Sophia

Luce pushed off Daniel to cliher, desperate for a better view The wide columns ob-structed the majority of the chapel, but when Daniel helped her just a little farther up the stairs, she could see more There were not one but three altars in the roo candles all around thenize two of them

Sophia looked older, more tired than she had behind her librarian’s desk Luce wondered briefly if it was because she had gone fros who hadn’t been teenagers in several hundred years That night, Sophia’s face was painted, lips like blood The robe she as dusty and dark with rings of sweat Hers had been the chanting voice When she started up again in a language that sounded like Latin but wasn’t, Luce’s whole body clenched She remembered it

This was the ritual that Miss Sophia had perforht she’d been at Sword & Cross

Miss Sophia had been just about to

"Pass me the rope, Vivina," Miss Sophia said They were so consuels crouched along the stairs outside the chapel "Gabrielle looks a little too comfy I’d like to bind her throat"

Gabbe

"There is no more," Vivina said "I had to double bind Ca Ooh, he still is"

"Oh my God," Luce whispered Cam and Gabbe were there She assumed the presence of a third robed ladyto do with this," Dee said under her breath "And Sophia is too crazy to know it"

"Why are the fallen being so quiet?" Luce whispered

"Why don’t they resist?"

"They must not realize that this place is not a sanctuary of God," Daniel said "They must be in shock--

I knoould be--and Sophia e She knows they’re worried that anything they do or say ht make the church erupt into flames"

"I kno they feel," Luce whispered "We have to stop her" She started for the door, emboldened by the fresh memory of Elders they’d destroyed outside, by the power of the angels behind her, by Daniel’s love, by the knowledge of the two relics they had already discovered But a hand cla her back into the corridor

"All of you stay here," Dee whispered, els to ensure they understood "If they see you, they will know Luce is with you

Wait here" She pointed to the coluels to hide behind "I kno to handle my sister"